Suction tip for dental treatment

ABSTRACT

The invention provides a suction tip for dental treatment which has no possibility of causing a patient discomfort such as pain when its end portion touches the gingiva or the like of the patient, and enables an easy suction operation and an easy attachment operation to a suction tube. The suction tip for dental treatment has a cylindrical shape as a whole, and a front end portion of the cylinder is cut obliquely. The front end portion is made of soft silicone rubber, and a cylindrical base portion continuing to the front end portion is made of hard silicone rubber. A flavoring cover is detachably attached around the front end portion and the cylindrical base portion . The flavoring cover is made of silicone rubber or rubber added with a flavoring, and includes an ultrathin cylindrical body that is thinner than the thickness of the front end portion and the cylindrical base portion and an annular rim around which the ultrathin cylindrical body is wound.

REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 11/358,129, filed Feb. 22, 2006, now U.S. Pat. No. ______.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to a suction tip for dental treatment detachably attached to an end portion of a suction tube of a vacuum device.

2. Description of the Related Art

In dental treatment, a vacuum device is used for sucking saliva and so on in an oral cavity of a patient to remove these from the oral cavity. A cylindrical suction tip made of silicone rubber is attached to an end portion of a suction tube of the vacuum device so that the end portion of the suction tube does not directly touch the gingiva or oral cavity mucosa of a patient.

The relevant technology is described in the Japanese patent application publication Nos. 2005-13394 and 2004-321710 and the Japanese utility model application publication Nos. sho 58-124117 and hei 6-36616.

However, although made of a rubber material such as silicone rubber, the conventional suction tip for dental treatment sometimes causes a patient discomfort such as an uncomfortable feeling or pain when its end portion touches the gingiva or oral cavity mucosa of the patient.

It is possible to use soft silicone rubber as a material of the suction tip for dental treatment, but this causes a problem that the entire strength of the suction tip reduces to cause it deformation easily, making a suction operation and an attachment operation to the suction tube difficult.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention provides a suction tip for dental treatment having a cylindrical base portion made of a first silicone rubber and configured to receive a suction tube, a cylindrical end portion cut obliquely and made of a second silicone rubber, the cylindrical end portion being permanently connected with the cylindrical base portion and a flavoring cover detachably attached at least around the cylindrical base portion, wherein a penetration index of the second silicone rubber is larger than a penetration index of the first silicone rubber.

With the suction tip for dental treatment of the invention, there is much less possibility of causing a patient discomfort such as pain when its end portion touches the gingiva or oral cavity mucosa of the patient, and further the entire strength of the suction tip is secured to facilitate a suction operation or an attachment operation to a suction tube.

Furthermore, since the suction tip has a flavoring cover attached to it, flavors spreading from the cover give comfort to a patient. Since this flavoring cover is detachable, it is changed for each of patients, thereby being kept sanitized.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a suction tip for dental treatment of a first embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the suction tip for dental treatment of the first embodiment of the invention along its longitudinal direction.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are perspective views of a flavoring cover attached to the suction tip for dental treatment of the first embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a suction tip for dental treatment of a second embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the suction tip for dental treatment of the second embodiment of the invention along its longitudinal direction.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a suction tip for dental treatment of the first embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A suction tip for dental treatment of a first embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of this suction tip for dental treatment 1, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the suction tip 1 along its longitudinal direction.

The suction tip for dental treatment 1 has a cylindrical shape as a whole, of which a front end portion 2 a of the cylinder is cut obliquely and a back end portion is cut vertically, forming a back end opening portion 3 and a front end opening portion 4. The front end portion 2 a which is to touch the gingiva or oral cavity mucosa of a patient is made of soft silicone rubber, and a remaining cylindrical base portion 2 b continuing to this front end portion 2 a is made of hard silicone rubber.

The soft silicone rubber forming the front end portion 2 a is gel (jellied) silicone rubber, and its penetration index is 80 to 90 mm, preferably.

The hardness of the silicone rubber can be measured by a penetration test. The penetration test is a test where a metal cone of JIS (Japanese Industrial Standards) K2220 is used, a peak thereof is placed on a sample from above, and the penetration depth of the cone into the sample is measured. This depth is used as the penetration index. The larger this penetration index is, the softer the silicone rubber is.

In the invention, the front end portion 2 a is made of soft silicone rubber, so that there is little possibility of causing a patient discomfort such as pain when the front end portion 2 a touches the gingiva or oral cavity mucosa of the patient. Furthermore, although a suction tube of a vacuum device is to be inserted into the suction tip for dental treatment 1 from the back end opening portion 3 to the middle of the length of the suction tip 1, the cylindrical base portion 2 b to be inserted with the suction tube is made of hard silicone rubber and thus has enough strength, thereby facilitating the attachment operation of the suction tip for dental treatment 1. The length of this suction tip for dental treatment 1 is about 40 to 50 mm, but it is preferable for practical use that the length L of the front end portion 2 a is about 5 mm.

Furthermore, by adding a flavoring to the soft silicone rubber forming the front end portion 2 a, flavor spreads therefrom and relaxes a patient when the front end portion 2 a touches the gingiva or oral cavity mucosa of the patient. Type of the flavoring includes a mint flavoring, or a strawberry flavoring or a banana flavoring for a child, for example, and a patient can select one from them according to preference.

Furthermore, adding a sweetening to the soft silicone rubber forming the front end portion 2 a also has an effect of relaxing a patient. Xylitol is suitable as the sweetening. Xylitol is a sugar alcohol, and formed by processing a white birch or a core of a corn. The sugar alcohol includes many, i.e. sorbitol, maltitol, and erythritol, all of which are the sweetenings which do not cause dental caries.

In a case of disinfecting the suction tip for dental treatment 1 by heat, there is a possibility of losing some of the flavoring to lighten the flavor. For solving this, in this device, a flavoring cover 5 is detachably attached around the cylindrical body (the front end portion 2 a and the cylindrical base portion 2 b) as shown in FIG. 1. This flavoring cover 5 is made of silicone rubber or rubber added with a flavoring. The flavoring cover 5 includes an ultrathin cylindrical body 5 a having a thickness of 0.02 to 0.1 mm that is much thinner than the thickness (several millimeters) of the cylindrical body (the front end portion 2 a and the cylindrical base portion 2 b) and an annular rim 5 b around which the ultrathin cylindrical body 5 a is wound.

The annular rim 5 b is also preferably made of silicone rubber, rubber, or the like, like the ultrathin cylindrical body 5 a. Similarly, a mint flavoring, a strawberry flavoring, a banana flavoring or the like are suitable as the flavoring added to the flavoring cover 5. A sweetening such as xylitol may be added to the flavoring cover 5. The form of the flavoring cover 5 is like a condom, but it does not form a pouch-like shape like the condom and forms a cylinder of which the ends are open.

A method of attaching the flavoring cover 5 will be described. The annular rim 5 b around which the most part of the ultrathin cylindrical body 5 a is wound is fitted to the front end portion 2 a, as shown in FIG. 3A. As shown in FIG. 3B, the ultrathin cylindrical body 5 a is let out by rolling the annular rim 5 b on the cylindrical body (the front end portion 2 a and the cylindrical base portion 2 b) from the front end toward the back end, so that the body 5 a is easily attached to the cylindrical body (the front end portion 2 a and the cylindrical base portion 2 b). When the attached flavoring cover 5 is to be detached, by rolling the annular rim 5 b in the opposite direction to the above mentioned direction, the ultrathin cylindrical body 5 a is wound around the annular rim 5 b and easily detached.

The flavoring cover 5 thus has an effect of relaxing a patient by spreading flavor, its detachability enables the change for each of patients so that the cover 5 is kept sanitized, and the attaching and detaching works are very easy.

Preferably, the flavoring cover 5 is configured to cover the entire part of the front end portion 2 a of the cylinder as shown in FIG. 6. Namely, the front end portion of the ultra-thin cylindrical body 5 a is cut obliquely to follow shape of the front end portion 2 a. The effect of relaxing a patient is enhanced as the flavoring cover spreads more flavor.

Next, a suction tip for dental treatment of a second embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of this suction tip for dental treatment 11, and FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the suction tip 11 along its longitudinal direction.

This suction tip for dental treatment 11 is also a cylindrical tube, and has a back end opening portion 13 and a front end opening portion 14. A front end portion 12 a which is to touch the gingiva or oral cavity mucosa of a patient is made of soft silicone rubber, and a cylindrical base portion 12 b other than the front end portion 12 a is made of hard silicone rubber.

This suction tip for dental treatment 11 differs from the one of the first embodiment in that an extended portion 15 extending from an edge of the front end opening portion 14 like a tongue is formed. Since mainly this extended portion 15 touches the gingiva or oral cavity mucosa of a patient, the front end portion 12 a including this extended portion 15 is made of soft silicone rubber. 

1. A suction tip for dental treatment, comprising: a cylindrical base portion made of a first silicone rubber and configured to receive a suction tube; a cylindrical end portion cut obliquely and made of a second silicone rubber; and a flavoring cover detachably attached to at least the cylindrical base portion, wherein a penetration index of the second silicone rubber is larger than a penetration index of the first silicone rubber.
 2. The suction tip for dental treatment of claim 1, wherein the flavoring cover comprising a cylindrical body and an annular rim, the cylindrical body is configured to be wound around the annular rim, and the cylindrical body and the annular rim are made of a silicone rubber added with a flavoring.
 3. The suction tip for dental treatment of claim 2, wherein the cylindrical body is thinner than a wall of the cylindrical base portion.
 4. The suction tip for dental treatment of claim 2, wherein the flavoring is either a mint flavoring, a strawberry flavoring or a banana flavoring.
 5. The suction tip for dental treatment of claim 1, wherein the second silicone rubber is a gel silicone rubber.
 6. The suction tip for dental treatment of claim 1, wherein the penetration index of the second silicone rubber is 80-90 mm.
 7. The suction tip for dental treatment of claim 1, wherein a flavoring is added to the second silicone rubber.
 8. The suction tip for dental treatment of claim 7, wherein the flavoring is either a mint flavoring, a strawberry flavoring or a banana flavoring.
 9. The suction tip for dental treatment of claim 1, wherein a sweetening is added to the second silicone rubber.
 10. The suction tip for dental treatment of claim 9, wherein the sweetening is xylitol.
 11. The suction tip for dental treatment of claim 1, wherein the cylindrical end portion is permanently connected with the cylindrical base portion.
 12. A method of adding a flavor to a suction tip for dental treatment, comprising: providing a suction tip for dental treatment; providing a flavoring cover made of a silicone rubber and added with a flavoring; and attaching the flavoring cover to the suction tip so as to cover a cylindrical portion of the suction tip. 